MACHiERIRHYNCHUS NIGRIPECTUS (Schlegel). 



By Mr. G. D. ROWLEY. 



Mach^rirhynchus*. This genus first appears in the article by Mr. Gould 

 on Australian birds (P. Z. S. 1850, p. 277), and is a member of the family of 

 the Muscicapidae. He thus describes it :— 



" Gen. Char. Bill rather shorter than the head, very much depressed 

 and widely dilated, causing it to assume a lancet-like form ; culmen elevated, 

 forming a distinct ridge down the centre of the upper mandible, and continued 

 over its extremity in the form of a sharp hook ; under mandible convex ; 

 tomia straight, the upper very slightly overlapping the lower ; rictus beset 

 with fine but stiffs bristles ; nostrils oblong, partly covered with an operculum, 

 and seated in large and deep depressions occupying the basal half of the upper 

 mandible ; wings short and somewhat rounded, the first quill very short, the 

 second much shorter than the third, the fifth the longest ; tail moderate in 

 length, distinctly graduated, the outer feather being little more than half the 

 length of the central ones ; tarsi moderate in length and slight in structure ; 

 toes feeble, particularly the anterior ones, the two outer toes equal in length 

 and united from the base to the first joint, hind toe rather long ; claws hooked 

 and very sharp/' 



The genus, which Mr. Wallace calls ^^an exclusively Papuan one" 

 (' Geographical Distribution of Animals,' vol. i. p. 411), consists of four 

 species (vol. ii. p. 271), said to be of the '^Papuan Islands and North 

 AustraUa ;'' while the family itself, the Muscicapidse (vol. ii. p. 270), is set 

 down as containing 44 genera and 283 species. 



* Th. /uLaxacpa^ a sword_, and pvyx^^^ a beak. 



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